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Economy in Brief
UK Consumer Sentiment Hits Lowest Reading since 1996
(when the GFK survey began; also lowest reading 'ever')
Of these 13 readings eight of them declined on the month in May three of them improved and two of them were unchanged...
U.S. Existing Home Sales Continue to Fall in April as Houses Become Less Affordable
The combination of soaring home prices across the nation and rising interest rates is making homes less affordable...
U.S. Index of Leading Indicators Fell in April
Five of the index's components fell in April, one was unchanged and four increased...
U.S. Unemployment Claims Rose in the Latest Week
The state insured rates of unemployment in regular programs vary widely...
CBI Gauge in the UK Continues to Be Upbeat
The global economy has a lot of challenges...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
Profits and Margins Plunge In Q1: Expect More Margin Contraction As Fed Squeezes Inflation
The Many Links of Inflation Cycle: Hard Landing Is Needed to Crack Them
Peak Inflation and Fed Policy: A Relationship which Should Worry the Fed and Scare Investors
Why Have the Yields on TIPS Been Negative in the Past Two Years?
by Tom Moeller May 1, 2012
For drivers of motor vehicles, fuel prices are finally providing some relief. The pump price of regular gasoline fell four cents last week to $3.83 per gallon, down for the fourth straight week. Haver Analytics' seasonally-adjusted price for regular fell six cents to $3.70 per gallon, the fifth consecutive week down. Yesterday, the wholesale price for a gallon of unleaded was $3.12 versus $3.16 averaged last week.
Reduced driving and improved fuel economy lowered the demand for gasoline by 4.2% y/y last week. The demand for residual fuel oil demand, used for heating, fell 10.2% y/y but distillate demand inched up 0.1% y/y. Inventories of crude oil and petroleum products ticked up 0.2% year-to-year. That comparison was improved versus the 5.0% decline this past fall.
The price for a barrel of light sweet crude oil rose last week to $103.97 and remained up sharply versus the low of $79.71 this past October. Yesterday, the cost of crude rose further to $104.87 per barrel. Prices peaked at $113.93 last April. Brent crude increased last week to $117.89 per barrel and rose further to $119.08 yesterday.
Natural gas prices rebounded last week to $2.00 per mmbtu but were still down 54.5% y/y. Yesterday, prices inched up further to $2.11 but remained off from the early-January 2010 peak of $6.50.
The energy price data are reported by the U.S. Department of Energy and can be found in Haver's WEEKLY database. The daily figures are in DAILY and the gasoline demand figures are in OILWKLY.
Weekly Price | 04/30/12 | 04/23/12 | 04/16/12 | Y/Y% | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Retail Regular Gasoline ($ per Gallon, Regular) | 3.83 | 3.87 | 3.92 | -3.4 | 3.52 | 2.78 | 2.35 |
Light Sweet Crude Oil, WTI ($ per bbl.) | 103.97 | 103.02 | 102.53 | -7.9 | 95.14 | 79.51 | 61.39 |
Natural Gas ($/mmbtu) | 2.00 | 1.86 | 1.93 | -54.5 | 3.99 | 4.40 | 3.95 |